Control is great.

Recently played Control. Had a blast!

The Mass Effect and Dragon Age games. I love me some Jennifer Hale as Commander Shepard.

Portal and Portal 2

All of the Metroid games. Those are a blast.

-Control

-A Hat in Time

-Celeste

-Shantae (Pirates Curse and Risky's Revenge are my favs)

-Touhou Luna Nights

-Returnal

-Portal 1/2 if that counts

Portal, Portal 2. Bonus points for also having a female antagonist and passing the bechdel test

How has nobody mentioned the Metroid games yet?

I know it's already been said, but Control is one of my favorite games ever and it has a well-written female protagonist. It's a must-play.

Also Returnal.

Try Life is Strange: an emotional coming of age game about a photography student with the ability to rewind time. One of my favorites.

Life is Strange games! More story then anything, and the dialog is a bit cringy these days but there's really no other games like it and I highly recommend them.

• metroid
• returnal
• beyond good and evil
• the FFXIII trilogy (yes they're good and I'll fight anyone that says otherwise)
• Bayonetta
• A lot of the Resident Evils
• Celeste, bonus points for being very gay as well
• Half-Life: Alyx
• Tales of Berseria (if you like anime stuff. the protag's outfit is trash but she's probably the best Tales MC IMO)
• Telltale's Walking Dead
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The female protag is canon as far as I'm concerned
• Night in the Woods
• Control
• Nier Automata
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Signalis

I just finished Control and it's really good! Jesse is a strong female lead and there's no male option like some games.

Subnautica (obviously?) - Female protagonist trying to survive long enough to figure out what happened to her sister on a frozen planet.

Gris - A very lovely and emotional story about grief.

There are several pages in this thread so these might've been mentioned already, but

Mirror's Edge, the original.

Tomb Raider (2013) and up

If you enjoy the Ubisoft formula, Far Cry 6

Saints Row 2 and up

Mass Effect franchise before Andromeda

• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• A Plague Tale (franchise)
• Tomb Raider (franchise)
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Bayonetta
• Control
• Fatal Frame (franchise)
• Nier (franchise)

Control.

One of the best games I've ever played, and I don't play many games. I've even replayed it twice. Criminally underrated female protagonist with a super cool story :))

edit: sorry didnt see its been suggested a trillion times :c

Mass Effect! FemShep is amazing!

There's a lot of great recs in here! A few that I don't see posted yet:

• Gone Home is a highly atmospheric exploration game where you play as Katie, a girl investigating her family's house after she arrives home and finds it empty. FYI in case you're with me in the "easily frightened" camp: this one can be just a little tense/scary in that "alone in the house at night" kind of way, but it's decidedly not a horror game.
• A Short Hike is a(n unsurprisingly) short and sweet little game where you play as Claire, a bird who goes on a little hike/adventure through, essentially, an island nature preserve. One of my go-to "relax and feel good feelings" replays.
• Bayonetta was already mentioned, but I'd specifically like to call out Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. It's a quite different game from other Bayonetta installments, with creepy-cute fairy tale vibes and somewhat unique controls.

I definitely have to add another vote for Celeste. The mental health theme was incredibly well done and it's one of the most memorable games I've ever played.

Dishonored 2. Haven't played through much of it because my laptop is a bit weak, but loved the first one.

I'm very much looking forward to Hades 2, and hope it won't be too much longer before we see some more news on it! I would like to try Transistor sometime too, as I've heard good things about it.

Assassins Creed: Odyssey. Cassandra is my muscle mommy.

RetroPi -> Tomb Raider

Get off my lawn

Also NOLF but you can’t run it on anything anymore.

I am old.

Portal

Satisfactory

Returnal, a rogue like 3rd person shooter (sort of bullet hell) with a scifi alien setting and a mindfuck story. It's one of my favorite games I've played in years, both for the story and gameplay. I can't recommend it enough.

If you're familiar with the story of the first Last of Us game, Last of Us 2 is great and is centered around Ellie.

Portal?

Does Crosscode count? I bought it on sale after hearing how good it is and so far sunk 40 hours in easily. Characters interact very well with one another and the combat system is high paced but accessable. Lots of great puzzles and the over arcing story is engaging.

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark (think Final Fantasy Tactics) https://store.steampowered.com/app/699170/Fell_Seal_Arbiters_Mark/

Final Fantasy VI https://store.steampowered.com/app/1173820/FINAL_FANTASY_VI/

In approximate order of how strongly I recommend but all are recommended

Sayonara Wild Hearts
Epistory
Tales of Berseria
Tangle Tower (Pair of male and female protagonists through the whole game and they are very balanced for screentime)
Wargroove
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
Crypt of the Necrodancer
The Stillness of the Wind
Sable
Tsioque
The Flame in the Flood
The World Next Door
Never Alone
One Step from Eden

Many good choices here. I didn't see Half Life Alyx here yet. It is an amazing game which alone is almost worth the cost of VR.

Definitely Celeste

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Scrolled through the comments, how has no one not mentioned A Plague Tail? Amazing story from a woman's perspective

Celeste

Returnal.

beyond good and evil is great

Celeste is a classic. It's a platformer. Really amazing game.

Chorus is a space dogfighting game. It has a great core gameloop but imo it is missing out on side content and story.

Mirrors Edge/Catalyst? Sorry I missed it’s already mentioned.

Phantasy Star On-Line New Genesis (male and female characters).

Besides me wanting to immediately say things like Metroid, Celeste, Tomb Raider, Life is Strange and such.

Games I enjoyed

• Cat Lady / Lorelai
• DOS2 (technically you can just play Sebille and Lohse stories)
• fault milestone (incomplete)
• anything by Christine Love (visual novels)
• Transistor

Then other random games I can think of that I didn't see listed

• Fatal Frame
• Bleed
• They Bleed Pixels
• Franbow
• Beyond Good and Evil
• Beyond Two Souls
• Indivisible
• Hatsune Miku games? (lol)
• Potionomics
• Alice Madness Returns
• Tandem: A Tale of Shadows
• Gris
• Little Misfortune
• Crypt of the Necrodancer
• Neptunia series
• Saintmaker

And I should stop before I am here all day thinking... lol

Assassin's Creed Odyssey female lead is canon, although you have the choice to play the male as well.

All the Metroid games, especially the 2D ones. If you like a good metroidvania, well, you can't go wrong with the game that created the genre.

I did not see Celeste mentioned, but if you're at least one bit into platforming, this gem is an absolute must-play. And must listen, I have the OST on repeat since it came out.

If beat them all are your jam, you need to play some P* games, and the ones with a female protagonist are the Bayonetta. Heavily sexualized, but to a point where it becomes some kind of parody of itself, you have to embrace the aesthetic. The rhythm is frantic, the scenario barely understandable, the action way over-the-top, and the combat gameplay tight as hell.

In more standard AAA waters, the two Tomb Raider reboots are pretty good, although a bit heavy on male-gaze.

Back to the indy side, What Remains of Edith Finch is a first person narrative game, in which you'll play as different characters. But the main ones are girls, and it matters in the plot.

technically any MMO (or other RPG) that lets you build a female character, but I would say FFXIV as there are a lot of interesting female secondary protags.

Hmm, by that standard, Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous both qualify, though opinions on the NPC companions vary.

Nier: Automata

Immortals: Fenyx Rising

A couple of the Star Ocean games let you choose between a Male or Female protag.

Mirror's Edge is a good one I haven't seen mentioned yet. A bit older by this point but it was a fun one.
Transistor is another great one. The gameplay was fine but the art and sound is incredible.

Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm are some of my favorites.